You’re still in the mood to chant slogans but to your chagrin you won’t convert others to your cause today. In fact, it is time to change your strategy. A new outlook, a slight tweak in the agenda, makes things right. The first step is the hardest; admit things aren’t working. This opens the door to success and unleashes energy previously trapped in resisting a problem. Happiness and enthusiasm appear as a result of changing your thinking. Winston Churchill said, “We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm.” Be especially cooperative with a person who is working hard, affirm allegiance to those who are important to you, and expand your thinking to encompass other peoples’ reality. You’ll treat others better and improve your own chances of success.

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Guru Is Your Diamond”

The original teachings of Lord Buddha taught us to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, distinguishing between the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and ordinary phenomena, samsaric phenomena. We use that idea of taking refuge in what is wholesome and what arises straight from the Buddha nature. We take refuge in this Buddha nature as represented by the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and that starts us on a path of discrimination, where we can see what to accept and what to reject; what is wholesome; what arises from the mind of enlightenment as Dharma does, and therefore results in the fruit of enlightenment. In other words, the seed arises from enlightenment and the fruit is also then enlightenment.

So we are learning to discriminate by taking refuge. We see that we can take refuge in the Buddha and the Buddha’s Method, the Dharma, and the Buddha’s body, which is the Sangha, instead of what we used to take refuge in which was, who knows, sports or ice skating or, you know, watching TV or having three cars or twelve houses, or whatever people find their particular desire is in samsara. Now we’re beginning to understand that where we took refuge in things of desire, now we are taking refuge in something that doesn’t give immediate gratification in the way that getting a new car, say, would. Get a new car, you feel good for about six months. So good. If you get Dharma, maybe you would feel good for about six months, but then you start to feel better. And you begin to realize that you are creating the causes for continued happiness. And we begin that discrimination. Oh, the car wasn’t a cause for happiness. In fact, nothing I’ve ever bought or had has ever been a real cause for happiness. But the condition of my mind? Now that can be a cause for happiness, if I learn to accept some things and to reject others; and to live a more wholesome life; and to get a flavor of what it is to live in purity with uncompromised intentions.

Slowly, we begin to notice, ‘You know, I’m feeling better.’ Then we also begin to notice that it’s not all about me, that kind of self-absorption. Rather we are really taking refuge in the Buddha’s wisdom, the Buddha’s enlightenment, the Buddha’s compassionate and amazing intention. And it’s not all about me and what I want. And our mantra has changed from ‘Give me, give me, give me’ to maybe Om Mani Padme Hung or the Vajra Guru mantra, or even just the pure intention to practice Dharma. So little by little, we begin to move on the path.

Now in this time and in this age, we have something quite special. This is the time of the ripening of the blessing of Guru Rinpoche. In fact, most of Guru Rinpoche’s teachings that were hidden as terma, or treasures, during the time of his life, have been revealed to come due or to be potent now. They are meant for this time that is very condensed and very degenerate, where people are really lost and our cultures even are lost, and our governments and power holders are lost. During this time when it’s hard to find even a rice-grained-size of truth, of clarity, and of compassion most of all, during this time, here it is that Guru Rinpoche’s precious teachings come ripe in the form of terma revealed.

In every cycle of terma revelation, bar none, Guru Rinpoche made it clear that most important was to practice Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga becomes to us the very sustenance on the Path.

Feelings-those pesky little critters-combined with a self righteous attitude land you in trouble so avoid acting on them today. Make sweeping generalizations that fly in the face of reality and you will be shot down. “Every child deserves his own room,” you say to a family of six living in a two bedroom apartment. Consider the reality others face before making judgments. Arnold Glascow said, “The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.”

Today one person goes around tidying things and another goes around messing things up. Ask yourself which role you’re playing and you’ll understand your contribution to the mess. This is an excellent day for partnership- once you’re working in the same direction- for healing measures, for detailed work and for satisfaction on the job. A forgiving attitude makes everything work.

A covert activity is discovered, causing trouble. Think again if you imagined you could get away with something that goes against the norms of public interest. Feeling disgraced? Apologize, take your medicine and it’ll go away. Defend yourself and it will get worse.

A plethora of details can’t solve a murky issue today, but medicine can heal a health problem. Try not to annoy someone who is recuperating, avoid dancing attendance on someone who wants to be alone, don’t chase someone who is trying to get away. Just step back and wait. Doug Larson said, “The real secret of patience is to find something to do in the meantime.” Partnership is wonderful, work is fun, you’re smarter than you used to be and not afraid to show what you know.

Sit down, take a break and relax. You’ve earned it and you deserve it. Harder than it sounds, since you still want to maintain the breakneck pace you’ve grown accustomed to. The problem is your work has become your fun.

Investors, sponsors and donors appear where none were before. Got a cause? This is your time. Cheerfully accept every gift whether or not you want it, need it, or like it. Abandon pride and be grateful. Hidden influences are at work changing things and moving them in a more positive direction. Unless you know what these forces are, don’t question what’s happening.

A seed planted long ago is beginning to bear fruit. Water it, fertilize it, gaze at it, but don’t pull it up to find out what it is. “Everything gains by non-interference” according to Lao Tsu.

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Conceptual Proliferation”

We who are sentient beings are wandering in samsara, and according to the Buddha’s teaching, if we have the assumption of self-nature as being inherently real, we are all basically in the same condition of wandering. It is only the gurus and the teachers who, in their past, may have accomplished sufficient Dharma which is the teaching of the enlightened mind. Having accomplished Dharma, they actually have clarified their mind to the point that they can see through the mist in a way that we cannot. You should trust in those teachers who have themselves accomplished their practice.

Some guidelines that you might use are these. I’ve taught this before and I’d like to reiterate this, because it is important at this time. You can have two kinds of expectation about a proper teacher for yourself or about yourself, if you think you are a proper teacher. One of them is that you should have in this lifetime totally accomplished and be, yourself, teaching pure Dharma. That is Dharma that is brought by the enlightened mind, the Buddha, one who has attained Buddhahood. This is not the kind where you make it up yourself according to the messages that you’re getting from the Pleiades. This is real Dharma, no kidding. Buddha taught it. If you are accomplishing Dharma or have accomplished it in this lifetime, and you are teaching Dharma, then you are a qualified teacher, or someone you are looking for is a qualified teacher. The only other circumstance is if there is someone who is recognized to be a reincarnate or a tulku or a great bodhisattva, who has in the past accomplished Dharma sufficiently to where, in this lifetime, their minds are the very display of Dharma and all of their activity is engaged in Dharma, and results in Dharma. And that can only be determined by being recognized by others who are themselves recognized and realized in that way. Those are the only two kinds of teachers that you should accept. And if you yourself are neither one, then you are not a good teacher. The rest are wandering in samsara and there is confusion and suffering.

That being the case, you have a choice to make now. And the choice is based on either continuing your dream-like false assumptions and dream-like confusion, and continuing the narcotic experience of just living in super-structured conceptual proliferation—death and rebirth, death and rebirth, death and rebirth—or you can get off of that and trust in the teaching of one who has accomplished Dharma. Trust in what ends up being like a lighthouse beacon in a very dark land, and go in the direction that you are guided to go in by your teacher. You must have a proper teacher. Go in that direction, and follow those instructions implicitly. To assume that you know nothing, to think that you know nothing because of your confusion, doesn’t make you bad, doesn’t make you less than anyone else. It simply states the facts. You’re still worthy. You still, in your nature, are the Buddha. You still are equally worthy of love with all sentient beings. But you accept the condition that you actually are in and it provides a tool for you, a power, a potency that you didn’t have before. Before it was like you were wandering around in a dark room trying to find the door and it’s pitch black and there’s all kinds of furniture and things hanging, you know, and drapes and dividers and things like that, and all you could do was stumble. You should think of the teacher as being like a lighthouse that shows you the door and, in fact, also is the door; because it shines to you from outside the door. And you should go in that direction. When you start going in that direction and assuming the validity of the teacher’s mind, and assuming that that is refuge, once you actually assume that, the moment that you assume that, you have begun to accomplish view. The moment you take that directive, other than your own confusion, as the direction in which you should go, you have started to heal. You have started to make real spiritual progress. You are on the path of Dharma. That is when your spiritual life begins.

A last minute push wraps up a work project. You’ll know when it’s done by the change in atmosphere: from hard charging to sitting around looking at pretty things, enjoying pleasant company and engaging in beautification projects. Feel like spiffing up your car, home, or appearance? Interested finding someone to bond with? Libra has arrived!

Keep an eye out for hard-charging folks and avoid being run over as you stop mid-path to gaze at the scenery. Many oppositions reflect differences of opinion and your job is to learn about each position while gracefully sticking with yours. Samuel Johnson said, “Curiosity is one of the most certain and permanent characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”

This is a good day to complete a major piece of work, to tend to important details, and to move steadily in a direction that fulfill your heart’s desire.

One night in a dream a white Dakini appeared to Dudjom Lingpa. She said that she was Sukha Siddhi and proceeded to recite the above offering stanzas for the sake of all sentient beings. She said that this wishing prayer included everything. This vision arose in the dream of Dudjom Lingpa after a prayer for water offering was requested of him by Lama Tsultim Dorje. It was recorded by Dudjom Lingpa’s secretary, Phuntsog Tashi.

Work continues to be a major theme, with worry following right behind. An unsolved problem is nipping at your heels, or so it seems, but in fact it’s been handled. You’ve worried so long it will take time to wind down and return to normal. A partner operates as a stabilizing agent offering suggestions that help broaden your perspective on issues. Winston Churchill said, “The greatest lesson in life is to know that everyone is right sometimes.”

A major transformation is taking place, one of such magnitude that it’s hard to comprehend. Take everything one step at a time, don’t try to look too far ahead and stay busy with your own work. The minute you start looking at what others are doing you’ll go wrong. People express love by performing small tasks for each other: the one who empties your trashcan or brings you lunch truly cares for you.

Transmission and continuity are key points in the Buddhist tradition. The living teachers must not die out; true spiritual realization must be imparted from teacher to disciple. Great Tibetan masters are not isolated mystics. Their wisdom, rooted in the fertile earth of their own confidence and perseverance, has slowly ripened in the sun of their teacher’s blessings and wisdom. There are many ways to please one’s teacher and repay his kindness, but the way considered best of all is to put his teachings into practice until genuine realization dawns in one’s own mind.

Of this way, Khyentse Rinpoche’s life was a perfect example. Besides his two main teachers, he studied with more than fifty outstanding masters from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Having entirely integrated the teachings into his own being, he could then impart them to thousands of disciples. Among those disciples, a few became true holders of the teachings, his spiritual heirs, and are continuing the lineage today.

Trulshik Rinpoche, born in 1924, is not simply a lineage holder; he is also the principal depository of Khyentse Rinpoche’s “mind treasures,” as specifically predicted in the texts of these treasures. He is also the main bestower of monastic vows in the Nyingma lineages and has ordained several thousand monks.

in the 1960’s, after a pilgrimage to Namo Buddha in Nepal, Khyentse Rinpoche dreamt one night that he was climbing a lofty mountain. At the summit was a small temple. He entered, and inside, side by side, his own former teachers–the three main lamas of Shechen monastery: Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Shechen Rabjam, and Shechen Kongtrul. Khyentse Rinpoche prostrated himself before them and, singing in sorrowful verse, asked them how they had suffered at the hands of the Chinese (all three of them having perished in Chinese jails in the early sixties). With one voice they replied, also in verse, saying, “For us birth and death are like dreams or illusions. The absolute state knows neither increase nor decline.” Khyentse Rinpoche expressed his wish to join them soon in the buddhafields, since he saw little point in remaining in a world where the teachings were vanishing fast and most teachers were but spurious impostors. At this point, Shechen Kongtrul, gazing at Khyentse Rinpoche with a piercing stare, said, “You must toil to benefit beings and perpetuate the teachings until your last breath. Merging into one, the three of us will come to you as a single incarnation, a helper to fulfill your aims.”

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9/26/2017 Tuesday by Norma You’re still in the mood to chant slogans but to your chagrin you won’t convert others to your cause today. In fact, it is time to change your strategy. A new outlook, a slight tweak in the agenda, makes things right. The first step is the hardest; admit things aren’t working. … Read more

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Guru Is Your Diamond” The original teachings of Lord Buddha taught us to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, distinguishing between the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and ordinary phenomena, samsaric phenomena. We use that idea … Read more

9/25/2017 Monday by Norma Feelings-those pesky little critters-combined with a self righteous attitude land you in trouble so avoid acting on them today. Make sweeping generalizations that fly in the face of reality and you will be shot down. “Every child deserves his own room,” you say to a family of six living in a … Read more

9/24/2017 Sunday by Norma A covert activity is discovered, causing trouble. Think again if you imagined you could get away with something that goes against the norms of public interest. Feeling disgraced? Apologize, take your medicine and it’ll go away. Defend yourself and it will get worse. A plethora of details can’t solve a murky … Read more